Time to punish those behind 1984 anti-Sikh riots: Sukhbir Badal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 14 Jun, 2014 11:24 AM
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Friday said that the time had come to punish the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
"The time has come to punish architects of Sikh genocide. The Akali Dal will soon discuss the ongoing legal proceedings with the union home minister to ensure proper investigations and early hearings of the cases to put the perpetrators of this heinous crime behind bars," Sukhbir Badal told media after offering prayers at the Golden Temple here.
"The NDA government has built up the trust of Sikhs, who have been fighting for the last 30 years to get justice since the previous UPA government had tried their best to shield the culprits and awarded high posts to them in the (Congress) party," alleged Badal, also the president of the Akali Dal which is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
He said that he was confident that the Narendra Modi government would deliver justice to Sikhs as early as possible by adopting every legal and administrative measure.
Hundreds of Sikhs were targeted and killed in Delhi and other places across India by mobs in the aftermath of the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh security personnel October 1984.
Several senior Congress leaders were accused of instigating mobs to target Sikhs during the riots.
The summer of 1947 was unlike any across the sun-baked plains of northern India. Mass communal violence had engulfed cities, and villages had gone up in flames and in some places entire populations were decimated. Millions upon millions were uprooted from their ancestral homes as an unprecedented population exchange took place.
Three prominent political leaders in India's history – Rahul Gandhi: heir to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty; Narendra Modi: the controversial, yet popular Hindu nationalist; and Arvind Kejriwal: leader of an anti-graft group that claimed a surprise victory in state elections in India’s capital – will battle on the elections grounds in the upcoming 2014 national elections.
A US federal court has dismissed charges of visa fraud and making false statements against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, whose arrest and subsequent strip-search in New York escalated into a full diplomatic row last year.
The victim's teary-eyed parents said they are "happy" but will feel justice is done after the four are hanged, while a defence lawyer termed the verdict "political".
I am warning you... After April, the country will witness unprecedented levels of inflation. Everything, foodgrain, vegetables, fruits, petrol, will become very expensive due to their policies, he said
A defamation case was filed against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for saying at a rally in Maharashtra March 6 that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) killed Mahatma Gandhi.
